Field
The described embodiments relate to techniques for avoiding an error when identifying an electronic device based on a user-provided identifier for the electronic device.
Related Art
Many electronic devices are capable of wirelessly communicating with other electronic devices. For example, these electronic devices can include a networking subsystem that implements a network interface for: a cellular network (UMTS, LTE, etc.), a wireless local area network (e.g., a wireless network such as described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, which is sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi®, or Bluetooth from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Kirkland, Wash.), and/or another type of wireless network.
Moreover, electronic devices typically communicate with a wired network (such as the Internet) via access points in wireless local area networks. For example, an electronic device may access the Internet by wireless communication with an access point using Wi-Fi. In turn, multiple access points in one or more wireless local area networks may be associated with a local-area-network controller (which is sometimes referred to as a ‘controller’), which is a centralized device (usually accessed via a wired network) that is aware of the environment(s) of the one or more wireless local area networks, including the presence of the multiple access points. Because of its centralized location and intelligence, a local-area-network controller can be used to: lower the cost of deployment, simplify the management of the access points and/or provide multiple layers of security.
Typically, access points are assigned or associated with corresponding local-area-network controllers based on identifiers of the access points. However, users often make errors when manually entering or providing such identifiers. These errors complicate the association between the access points and the correct corresponding local-area-network controllers.